Provided I know that The Night Verses are going to blow your mind, let’s explore the band a little more. This is a 3-man project, who have a singular aim. They want to sound like anything but a 3-man band, creating layers of what can be called orchestral incisions. Apart from this, it helps that all the band members wear multiple hats. The merch, artwork and videos all come from that singular thought they have created. You will check out their other music after this album anyway. This is their latest, Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night.
When Aric Improta, the drummer of this band left Fever 333, many fans were distraught. Looking at this result, you can see why the process was so intensive. Improta was a finalist in the Guitar Center Drum-Off in 2012. His acrobatics, unique playing style and thirst for creating as much sound as he can from the drums were the highlights. Shockingly, he didn’t win. If you see his Instagram and YouTube, you can see why this ever-creative musician is someone to admire.
Beyond the edge of metal
Now that I am done fanboying, let me tell you why this album is one of the most impressive instrumental projects I have heard. The band is not looping anything, they are creating as many layers as they can live. When you listen to their music, it is important to keep this in mind as well. Thankfully, there are some music videos to help our imagination. The metal alloys echo in the opening song, 8 Gates of Pleasure. You can hear the hammer ons and tapping sections create a ripple effect, something that opens wormholes of thought.
Explosive openings are a surreal way to tap into the kind of energy the band has. Arrival, a single released 8–9 months ago is the second song. Though they are performing at 100mph, the accuracy matches the intricacies. I think Rose Wire is a perfect example, where gentle melodies might be flurrying past you, but something draws you to the overarching theme of the song.
Bigger sounds can always be explored with distortion, making a wall of notes. What makes The Night Verses unique is the way the riff is perceived, which break the boundaries of metal. This is from all their inspirations, trip-hop, prog rock, art rock, and psychedelic tunes. The result is this, a vivid exploration of different colour palettes, all on one canvas. Its exciting, if not jarring in the first listen. Love in a Liminal Space is one of those prog metal diary pages. To prove that everything doesn’t have to be loud, this one reels back the tempo for a glamorous prog-rock symphony.
Collaboration in an exciting project
Séance with Justin Chancellor is something straight out of an acid trip. I would imagine a band like this finds a lot common with Tool, leaders of prog-metal experiments. Justin Chancellor and Aric alone take the centre stage in this, time signatures galore. I have no idea how anyone kept track of time, and yes, be careful when you watch the music video. Good chance you’ll get sucked into a psychedelic dream if you’re high.
Class metal comes across in Plague Dancer. It is difficult to imagine a band resonating through its own created textures to the next layer, which is extremely difficult to do. If they love metal, they want to see what else it can sound like, in a cinematic repose. Aska is a distortion heavy track, with very minimal shifts, Glitching Prisms making that refractive background something to work on. Any artist collaborating with The Night Verses is treated to their own traditional music style, waiting to be elastically throttled in every direction. If you give a musician a band that is able, in every sense of the word, you can create magic.
The faces behind
As we tie ourselves down towards the end of the album, you can see from a distance what they have done. Nick DePerro, Reilly Hererra and Aric Improta are not just The Night Verses. They have the ability to be any art project, revolving around music and experimentation. The way certain grooves fall, tones lift and elements bounce off each other is simply outstanding.
In the same grain, there are many who will find this form confusing. It is alright, a simple thought to have regarding all the different strains you get to hear and see. However, it must be agreed that the band is onto a thought experiment that leads to very original results. Perhaps you might enjoy it more, if you left any and every chain of thought behind before listening to this. The individual members are interesting individuals who perform incredibly in their own right. Follow them for more, and listen to their album here:
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
